Constructive Summer

First off, I just want to let our loyal readers know that we are doing wonderfully as a family, but are super busy. Therefore, the blog updates are likely to be less frequent in the weeks ahead as Jeni and I prepare to start our seventh and eighth years of school respectively. Thinking about this fact alone makes me scratch my head... weren't we just School of Ed students at UW-Madison where we met? It is hard to believe that our undergrad training ended so many years ago. It is harder to believe that we are finished with our Master's degrees, and are now considered "veterans" on our teaching staffs even though we have been told that physically we still look like rookies. Speaking of rookies, how can you not smile looking at one of our "true rookies," smiley Gracie (see photo above)?

This whole idea of time passing too quickly relates well to our thoughts dealing with our girls and reflecting upon this summer. Where has the time gone? This is the summer where I've been outside the least, played the least amount of golf, attended the least amount of social events, gone to the gym the least, and yet, feel like I've been the most busy and the most happy. Children change lives for the better, and I am sure that the summer of 2008 will go down in the Piper family annals as the summer where we stopped worrying every time the phone rang and started being parents (who continue to worry, but are blessed not to have to worry quite so much).

We went to the doctor yesterday for our girls' wellness check up, and I left almost crying tears of joy. Hope is now 9 pounds 4 ounces, and Gracie is 7 pounds 2 ounces. Our pediatrician described our girls as "looking excellent" and "ahead of where other preemies often are." Gracie and The Hopester are alert, tracking movements, rolling on their sides, and most importantly growing like weeds! They are acting like term 6 week olds, and spend most of their day sleeping, eating, or, enjoying their favorite activity, being held by Mom or Dad. We are hoping that the girls can even be off their apnea monitors in a week or two!

As Jeni and I scramble to get our classrooms back in order and to prepare for the upcoming school year we are spending increasingly more time away from home, which means that we're taking longer shifts with the girls. I had the blessing of being "Mr. Mom" yesterday and got to hang out with the girls all day while Jeni worked on her classroom. It was a lot of fun (although, I can see how being a stay-at-home-mom is a full-time job). Gracie and Hope went through three outfits each in the time Jeni was gone. We did, however, have a grand time playing airplane and watching the Brewers defeat the Astros. It was nice that we had visitors today who came and helped out and provided us with lots of laughs and smiles. Our good friend Sue and her family visited this morning and our friends Chris and Ros this evening. Everyone who comes over comments on how big the girls are, which is a stark contrast from early comments from people about how tiny they looked in the NICU.

In closing, as our summer of newborns comes to a close, I reflect upon the many lessons I've learned. Here are a few of them.

• Schedules are relative: I love being organized and living my life on a schedule. Hope and Grace do not share their father's same need for structure. Eating dinner at 9:30 at night and breakfast at 10:30 in the morning is ok sometimes. Even on days when we do have things planned, those plans often fly straight out the window!
  
• Live in the moment: When the girls want to play, play with them. When they want to sleep take a nap. Normally I live by the motto, "make a plan and see it though." Hope and Grace have taught me that it's ok to have a plan, but that seeing that plan through in stages is just fine. I've learned to live with piles of laundry in the living room and a plethora of bottles and dishes daily in the sink. We do our best to pick the place up in the morning, but the girls come first.
  
• You are only a baby once: As the girls continue to grow so fast, it dawns on me that they are going through their infant stage for the first and only time in their lives. I've been told to enjoy the girls being babies and cherish the lack of sleep, take lots of pictures, sing plenty of silly songs, and rejoice in the filled diapers and screams in the middle of the night. Our babies are acting like... well, babies :)

Enjoy some photos!









Mom and Dad enjoy a moment with sleepy Hope. Most of the time these days she looks ready to party!





Gracie looks alert as she checks out her Mommy and Daddy.